1. Technical Field
The present principles relate to cutters and graters. More particularly, it relates to a cutting blade for a grater and a method for using the blade to cut, peel, slice, grate, slash, graze or rip material from an object.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Graters are generally used in the housewares and foodservice market to extract fine shavings from a variety of foods (e.g., fruits and vegetables). To date, all known graters use tines of some kind that protrude from the surface of the grater and are configured to operate in one direction.
In most instances, a hole is provided in the surface of the grater, and the tine projects outward from the hole such when a food product is passed over the tines in a specific cutting direction, the food product is “grated” by the tines and the “grated” food product passes through the hole onto the desired surface positioned under the grater.
Those of skill in the art will appreciate that there are several downfalls and disadvantages to these known grater designs. For example, a user who accidentally comes into contact with the tines of the grater can easily cut themselves, as these tines protrude from hole and therefore protrude from the plane of the cutting surface. Another disadvantage is that all known graters are configured for a one way cutting operation. Thus, when the food product is passed over the cutting tines in the cutting direction, the food product is grated. However, when the food product is passed over the tines in the opposite (non-cutting) direction, no grating of food cutting is performed.